The usefulness of data brokers to law enforcement agencies was the sticking point for day 2 of House Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations hearings on data pretexting. Witnesses at the Thurs. hearing were all from the law enforcement community; the biggest disagreement came over the way in which brokers might actually help law enforcement get information more quickly than through subpoenas or warrants. It抯 important to understand why some law enforcement may be turning to data brokers, said Subcommittee Chmn. Edward Whitfield (R-Ky.), though several of his colleagues were pointed in their questions about why that would ever be needed. There抯 little reason to think law enforcement needs data brokers to get records when warrants and subpoenas are highly effective, witnesses said. Mo. Asst. Attorney Gen. Peter Lysowski, whose office has aggressively litigated against data brokers in the last few months, said most fast- track warrants can be secured in 30-40 min., with actual telephone records following in short order.
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